Team-BHP - Automatic for 3 lakhs: Used i10 vs Used A-Star vs New Nano

Bought the car finally...
Thanks for all your help!

Quote:

Originally Posted by condor (Post 4107623)

I would try for the A-Star. We have one, and happy with it.

City or Brio AT would be the next option. Cars can run for a long time, and all they need is regular maintenance - and not be abused. City is absolutely fine.

Thanks. I was searching for both AStar and City. The City was going to be a very old car - yet, the charm of the honda city ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheARUN (Post 4107645)

The i10 also came with a sun roof. Don't know if all the automatics had a sun roof or it was an option offered at the time of purchase, but have seen many with the sun roof. If you are going for an i10, search hard for a sun roof version, its also worth a slight premium over a normal i10 automatic. Nothing like a factory fitted sun roof

Mileage as you say, is a problem. Drive-as-you-please mode would give you anything between 6-8 kmpl as far as I know. However, if you plan and leave early, take shorter less congested routes, don't accelerate hard, keep the engine spinning in the economy zone for most of the drive and plan your braking in advance you should be able to squeeze a 9.5 on most occasions. Bear in mind that normal i10's seldom give more than 11-13 in city conditions (willing to stand corrected if anybody on the forum has more credible information)

A city will get you the eye balls and jealous stares from the neighbors and acquaintances, but an i10 would be more convenient. Nano is a different ball game altogether, lets leave that for some other day

You are right about the cars being priced high in Bangalore. Most of the people who have these cars have deep pockets and don't mind letting them lie idle for a while as they wait for a gullible buyer. The owners might want to read up what the meaning of 'present-value-of-money' is. 3 lakhs is hand today is worth more than 4 lakhs 6 months down the line, if you know how to make 3 lakhs work hard for you

Agreed to all you said. There are nearly 0 I10's with a sun-roof, for sale. So, thats pretty much a luck factor to get one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by neofromcapone (Post 4107682)

Is it possible for you to strech your budget and buy a new car. Plenty of 100% on-road financing options are available in the market. Maybe a brand new 110 or the grand 110 magna. Atleast you will have peace of mind with the new car.

I could stretch, but the question is about the usage (very less) and the investment made into a heavily depreciating asset, even more so for me with a daily drive of 10 to 15 km, 20 days a week (not much). So, its more of "why invest more when the same can be achieved with a used car".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj (Post 4107695)

If you are looking at Honda Sedans. Look for a Civic over the City. Has lower resale so should be able to get a good price. And of course the snob value is much higher :)

Did not see Civics although it is a very nice value proposition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgiitk (Post 4107718)

I think the only Honda AT box which was not Uber reliable was the City ZX. So go find a Honda (whatever) and enjoy.

Thanks. This helps!

Quote:

Originally Posted by autorahul (Post 4107747)

Sell the Quanto and replace it with TUV 300 AMT/Aspire AT/Jazz AT. It will replace the Quanto with a modern car, which is automatic. All these 3 cars have got good discounts going on, along with exchange benefits, and will be good for long drives and highway outings too.

With current ongoing offers, exchange price for Quanto, exchange benefits, you should be able to get TUV300 AMT for about 4 lakhs.

Very interesting idea. However, the price was working out to be much more than 4L.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nik0502 (Post 4107890)

+1 to what rahul said,

There is no point having two cars if the only requirement is to have an AT box. TUV300 is what you should be looking for. Because another car means maintenance, insurance and everything double.

We already have a need for 2 cars and have a Quanto and an Indica. Now, the Automatic would replace the Indica.

Quote:

Originally Posted by smartcat (Post 4107932)

Looks like somebody else had a similar dilemma:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/hatchb...-new-nano.html

Thanks. This helped. Now, this thread has been merged to the above thread!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss (Post 4108166)

I know it is hard to find, but still I suggest Micra CVT.

Great CVT, but very few cars. Hard to find.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain (Post 4108178)

I will suggest a used Brio AT or Micra CVT.

Again, hard to find. These are great buys if one knows someone who is selling a Micra, but finding one in the used car market is hard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aficionados (Post 4112306)

Drove some other cars of that era as well and then found a used 2006 Corolla automatic, a very well maintained top of the line model with asking price just right lol:

Thanks. This was my experience too....

NOW - to announce the new arrival. Found a nice 2005, 55k run Honda City CVT. The car was a great condition, and pretty decent, and was in my budget. Thanks to everyone who replied.

The summary of my analysis was that, if budget is fixed in the range of 3 to 5L, then here is how you should choose your car:
--> Low usage , secondary car: Buy used. (NHC, Astar)
--> High usage secondary car: Buy new AMT (Kwid, Alto, Nano AMT)
--> Low usage, primary car: Buy used (NHC, Astar)
--> High Usage, primary car: Buy used CVT/AMT (Celerio, Kwid, Alto, Brio).